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I make pasties about once a month or so usually when I have run out of fresh vegetables but still have some frozen. I always have some beef mince and puff pastry in the freezer so its an easy option that’s pretty fast to make, very delicious, and very popular!

Beef and Veggie Pasties

Prep time 15mins, cooking time 25mins

Serves 6

Ingredients:

3 sheets of frozen puff pastry, thawed

3oog beef mince

1 medium brown onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley

1 cup of frozen peas, corn and carrot

1/2 cup of diced fresh vegetables such as potato or mushroom

1/4 cup barbeque sauce

2 tbs tomato paste

3/4 cup beef stock

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Get two large baking trays/cookie sheets and place a sheet of baking paper on each.

place a little olive oil into a medium saucepan, when hot add the garlic and onion and cook until the onion is soft. Add the beef mince and cook through.

Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl combine the remaining ingredients except the pastry!

When the beef is cooked add the bowl full of saucy vegetables and parsley to the beef, stir to combine and bring to a simmer for 5minutes or until some of the liquid has reduced. Set aside for 10minutes and allow to cool.

Cut each puff pastry sheet in half so you have 6 strips of pastry. Place one strip at a time on a baking tray, and add about half a cup of the cooling beef mixture on one end of the strip. Fold the other end of the strip over the beef mixture so the edges of the pastry touch. fold over the edges, about 1/2 cm in, and then tap down with a fork.

Repeat this process with the other 5 strips of pastry, three pasties to a baking tray. Poke the tops of the pasties with a fork a couple of times. This stops the pasties from puffing up too much while baking.

Place in the oven and bake for 20-25minutes or until golden brown and crispy on top.

Eat your pasties with some tomato sauce and a salad. Or if you really have nothing else in the fridge just eat it by itself and then go shopping the next morning ;).

2. On medium-high speed, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to high and add the egg. Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.

3. In a separate small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, vanilla extract and red food coloring to make a thick paste. Add to the batter and mix on medium speed until completely combined. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.

4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk. Add half of the flour and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour. Beat on high until smooth.

5. Again, reduce the mixer speed to low and add the salt, baking soda and vinegar. Turn to high and beat for another couple of minutes until completely combined and smooth.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a thin knife or skewer inserted into the center of the largest cupcake comes out clean.

7. Cool for 10 minutes and then remove cupcakes from the pan and place them on a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

8. To make the frosting: Using the whisk attachment, whip the butter and cream cheese on high speed for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl down as necessary. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar until all is incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Increase the speed to medium high and whip for a few minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as necessary.

I haven’t posted anything for ages! We have had a few good meals but the camera hasn’t been around, or I’ve been lacking in time due to study/work/sleep etc. Craig has been asking for fish curry for a while and tonight turned out to be the night. I lost one of my cookbooks in a move recently (if anyone has my Modern Asian book let me know!) and so tonight’s curry resulted in an amalgamation of several recipes found via google. We really loved the curry, it had a nice kick too it, but wasn’t too hot, was really tasty, fresh, very fast and worked perfectly with our favourite sticky rice.

It only takes about half an hour to cook, so its a great option for a midweek dinner. Let me know what you think!

Thai Fish Curry

(Prep time 10mins, cooking time 20mins, serves 6)

Ingredients:

Curry Sauce

1/2 cup fresh coriander stems and leaves, chopped

1 can good-quality coconut milk

4 green onions, sliced (including green stem)

1 thumb-size piece galangal or ginger, grated

4 cloves garlic

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tsp chilli powder (plus or minus depending on how hot you like your curry)

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp brown sugar (or more to taste)

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp shrimp paste (from an Asian grocer, if you don’t have any you can replace it with an extra tbs of fish sauce)

1 fresh red chilli or1 tsp of dried chilli flakes

Curry

1 large fillet of firm white fish ( I used Ling because it was on special at the supermarket!) – see note.

Put your three cups of rice into a mixing bowl and cover with water, stir until the water becomes cloudy and drain. Repeat this process and the third time keep the rice in the water and allow it to soak for 20 or so minutes. As long as you can. If you don’t have time that’s okay, your rice just wont be as sticky.

Preheat the oven to 180C

Put all the ingredients required in the curry sauce into a food processor and pulse until it forms a smooth sauce.

Place the fish fillet in some aluminium foil and cook in the oven for 8-10minutes.

While the fish is cooking, put the sauce into a large pot or wok and bring to the boil. At this stage, drain the rice and add it to the rice cooker with three cups of water. Start cooking the rice!

Reduce to a simmer and add the fresh vegetables.

Remove the fish from the oven transfer to a bowl and break the the fish into small pieces.

Add the fish to the curry sauce and vegetables keep on very low heat until you are ready to serve it/until the rice is ready.

Serve with the fresh coriander and a lemon wedge.

Note: You can find glutinous rice, or sushi rice at Asian grocers for about the same price at regular medium or long grain rice. If you don’t have any you can pretty much you any kind of rice, it just wont be as sticky.

You can easily swap the fish for chicken, prawns or keep it as a vegetarian curry. If you want your fish in larger pieces cube it pre cooked and add it to the sauce about five minutes after adding the vegetables. Cook for a further five minutes and the fish should be ready.